Yes, the great Diego Maradona has taken over and his spell in charge will, I’m sure, be anything but uneventful. There are already rumours of behind the scenes arguments about his choice of assistant and whether his tenure will be a long one or not remains to be seen. It will be fun while it lasts.

He has already said that he will walk out on the national team if he is refused permission to appoint Oscar Ruggeri as his assistant.

Threatening

Maradona’s first match is scheduled to be this game but he is threatening not to come.

“I will be the trainer with my technical staff I want, otherwise I will not come to Glasgow,” he said.

Carlos Bilardo, the Argentina FA’s technical secretary, insists Maradona will not carry out his threat.

Dispute

Argentina FA boss Julio Grondon, who Maradona is reported to be in dispute with, would not reveal the reasons for his dislike of former Argentina defender Ruggeri.

Maradona has already pointed out that he is a bit of a hero in Scotland after his exploits in 1986 and the two countries would seem to share a hatred of us poor old English.

Based in England

Despite that hatred, twelve of the Scotland squad are based in the English league and three of the Argentina squad are also based in England, Manchester United’s Carlos Tevez, Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano and Newcastle’s Fabricio Coloccini. They also include former Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze in their squad.

Apart from Maradona the most notable thing about Argentina is the player who isn’t there. The new boss was unable to persuade Barcelona to release Lionel Messi for the game.

Restored

Scotland’s captain Barry Ferguson and Alan Hutton have been restored to George Burley’s twenty-six man squad for the game. Ferguson is physically fit again, but is badly lacking match fitness. Tottenham’s Alan Hutton says he is relishing the challenge of fighting for his place in the Scotland team after four months out with a foot fracture.

Ross McCormack of Cardiff City has also been re-called after impressing with twelve goals already this season whilst Birmingham City’s Garry O’Connor has been left out.

Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon is in the squad, but is struggling with an ankle injury and is unlikely to play. That could mean a second international start for Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

Elsewhere, there is no place for Rangers defender David Weir or of course his team-mate midfielder Kevin Thomson who has a knee injury that will see him miss the rest of the season.

Obviously, as an Englishman I hope both teams lose on Wednesday! As that isn’t possible I predict a narrow Argentina victory. What do you think?

“When an English journalist pointed out his handed goal against the Three Lions and the declarations by Terry Butcher, his adversary at the time and now the assistant to George Burley, head coach of Scotland, that he (Butcher) didn’t intend to forgive him, Maradona rediscovered a controversy from long ago:

‘It doesn’t interest me to shake hands with Butcher, I will sleep without his handshake. Nobody ought to judge me also because I remember that England won a World Cup in 1966 with a goal that hadn’t passed over the goal line.’ “

About The Author

Graham is a 46 year old freelance football writer from Salisbury in England. He has a passion for football, in particular, Watford and the team he coaches, Wilton Town.
Graham writes opinions and observations for various online sites, www.4sportsake.com, www.soccernews.com, www.sportingo.com and www.soccer-weblog.com.
Visit his football club's website at www.wiltontownfc.co.uk

4 Comments

BD Condell14 November, 2008

Maradonas’ tenure is destined to be surrounded by controversy and to end in tears.